Students explore science and renewal through gourd-growing project

The recent gourd harvest by elementary students from The Learning Center was much more than an afternoon in the autumn sun.

It marked the culmination of hands-on study that demonstrated the emergence of new life from a rotting vegetable.

The project was coordinated by Erin Salva, a retired Kenyon College administrator who manages the Arch Park Community Garden on Mount Vernon’s west side. She has developed gardening experiences for students at The Learning Center – a K-12 alternative school in the former Mount Vernon West Elementary building – for several years.

“We placed an old gourd in a classroom terrarium and let it rot, then the kids took seeds from it and planted them,” Salva said. “It showed them that when something dies it can regenerate. It was a full-circle learning experience.”

The Learning Center is operated by the Knox Educational Service Center. Salva’s interaction there has included showing students how to plant seeds to germinate in pots on their classroom windowsills before moving the small plants to raised soil beds in a corner of the playground. Small harvests there have included radishes, peas, broccoli, lettuce and flowers.

During the Arch Garden harvest on Oct. 10 Salva led the fourth- and fifth-graders in a discussion about the difference between gourds and pumpkins. She also distributed large magnifying glasses for the children to use to search for insects.

“Look!,” one boy shouted. “I found a praying mantis!”

“I don’t think you needed a magnifying glass for that,” Salva said, laughing, as other students gathered around the boy.

She cautioned the students to watch the praying mantis as it moved on the weeds but not to pick it up.